ON PRESSURE SHEAR PLATE IMPACT FOR STUDYING THE KINETICS OF STRESS-INDUCED PHASE-TRANSFORMATIONS

Pressure-shear plate impact experiments are proposed for studying the kinetics of stress-induced phase transformations. The purpose of this paper is to determine loading conditions and specimen orientations which can be expected to activate a single habit plane variant parallel to the impact plane, thereby simplifying the study of the kinetics of the transformation through monitoring the wave profiles associated with the propagating phase boundary. The Wechsler-Lieberman-Read phenomenological theory was used to determine habit plane indices and directions of shape deformation for a Cu-Al-Ni shape memory alloy which undergoes a martensitic phase transformation under stress. Elastic waves generated by pressure-shear impact were analyzed for wave propagation in the direction of the normal to a habit plane. A critical resolved shear stress criterion was used to predict variants which are expected to be activated for a range of impact velocities and relative magnitudes of the normal and transverse components of the impact velocity.